Westgate fall short in T20 quarter final

Shireshead progressed to the semi finals of the Twenty20 Cup with a 50 run victory over Westgate.

On a beautiful summer evening Shireshead elected to bat first, and Phil Bovis announced the batting side’s intent as he crashed the first ball of the innings to the boundary.

Three balls later though D Conroy had his revenge as Bovis edged behind to leave the score at 4 for 1 from the first over.

Bovis’ opening partner Phil Oliver (55) took over at this point as he crashed 10 fours and 1 six in a 32 ball innings which set a great platform for Shireshead, one over from A Arestidou disappearing to all parts of the ground for 20.

Nick Rafferty (32) kept the momentum going as the innings passed 100 in the 13th over, but a flurry of wickets from Z Buchanan (3 for 27) stemmed the flow for a while. Peter Wilson (32 not out) however ensured that a late surge allowed Shireshead to post a highly competitive 157 for 8.

The Westgate reply began steadily as A Hill and A Briggs added 48 for the first wicket, but when Wilson (3 for 15) removed Briggs and K Puffet in the space of three balls the direction of the game changed for good.

Wickets then fell at regular intervals as Westgate struggled to keep up with the escalating run rate in the face of disciplined spells from all the Shireshead bowlers.

Dave Jack (3 for 20) was on a hat-trick at one stage as the wickets continued to tumble with Westgate ultimately falling 50 runs short as they closed on 107 for 9.